The Health Services Joint Fund (HSJF) has stopped supporting procurement of blood by CHAM facilities and Central Hospitals from Malawi Blood Transfusion Services (MBTS).
Secretary for Health in the Ministry of Health Charles Mwansambo disclosed this in a letter dated July 7 and addressed to the chief executive officer of MBTS.
He said a financing situation for blood and blood supplies under the Health Services Joint Fund has made it unable for the Ministry of Health to pay for blood and blood products supplied to Central Hospitals effective 1 July, 2021.
“As such, going forward, the Central Hospitals will be responsible for settling their own bills to MBTS.
“Meanwhile, the Ministry is currently still exploring funding for blood and blood products supplied to CHAM hospitals. We are therefore unable to make a commitment until such a time as we have confirmation of funding,” said Mwansambo.
Meanwhile, United Democratic Front President Atupele Muluzi who also served as Minister of Health in the Peter Mutharika administration has said that donor confidence in the government is diminishing every day.
He added that there is no political will to support the health sector under President Lazarus Chakwera whom he accused of lacking strong decisive leadership.
“All this is happening at a time when there is very little commitment from government to increase funding to the health sector,” said Muluzi in aFacebook post today.
The Health Services Joint Fund (HSJF) is an off-budget funding mechanism that pool Development Partner funds to address priority health service constraints in Malawi.
Donors supporting Ministry of Health through HSJF include the Royal Norwegian Embassy together with DFID and KfW are the three donors supporting Malawi’s Ministry of Health (MoH).
